The second NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte has been postponed until Thursday night due to rainstorms in North Carolina.
The race, originally scheduled for an 8pm ET start on Wednesday night, has been pushed back nearly 24 hours with the green flag expected to fall at 7pm ET on Thursday evening – midnight Friday morning in the UK.
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, NASCAR was forced to rejig its 36-round calendar during the two-month hiatus the series was forced to take after the Phoenix round in early March.
Upon the resumption of the season two weeks ago, series chiefs elected, with the consent of North Carolina state governor Roy Cooper, to run two races in South Carolina at Darlington and a further two at Charlotte, with the proximity of both circuits to the major NASCAR hub in Charlotte being a key factor in that decision.
The first race at Charlotte was the traditional 600-mile event which Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski claimed his first victory of the season ahead of seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, before his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro was excluded after failing post-race scrutineering.
As with the second Darlington race last Wednesday, NASCAR will reverse the top 20 finishers from the 600-mile race.
It sees Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron starting on pole position, alongside team-mate Alex Bowman with Michael McDowell’s #34 Ford Mustang Front Row Motorsports entry lining up in third.